As per usual, when reading a Backman book, I vacillate between crying and laughing. My Friends is a stunning piece of work that explores friendship, found family and how art truly is in the eye of the beholder. I couldn’t get enough of these characters and how they all resonated deep within me. My Friends is a five star read and on my list of faves for 2025.

This book was nothing but incredible. Absolutely had me sobbing my eyes out for real. I enjoyed every minute of this book and just every book he writes is truly incredible.

My Friends is one of my favorite reads this year!
This is a heartfelt and deeply human story. Backman doesn’t shy away from the messy realities of friendship, loyalty, and the cost of standing up for what’s right. These characters feel like real people, flawed, brave, and painfully relatable.The writing is tender and filled with lines that stay with you long after you close the book.

Editor's note: This roundup is scheduled to publish in Georgia June 11 online and June 14 print in several newspapers. Will also publish in Mississippi and Alabama during the month in newspapers and magazines, timing up to local editors. Link below will be active June 11.

From new series starters (Michael Connelly’s “Nightshade”) to the tried-and-true (Kendra Elliot’s “Her First Mistake”) our beach bag is already overflowing, and what we offer here are just a few — OK, actually 25 — of the best beach reads published through the end of June. Later this season we’ll round out the list, but for now, find an old favorite, a debut thriller or just about anything in between — including a North Alabama favorite who you just might see dining at a Cullman restaurant.

“Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man” (Berkley) by Jesse Q. Sutanto: A lovable Chinese tea shop owner stumbles upon a distressed, young woman — and a murder, the investigation of which she decides to serve up herself. With lots of tea and nosy charm, Vera tackles the project unasked as a “favor” to her (hoped for) future daughter-in-law. Sutanto mixes cozy mystery with smart humor and heartfelt moments.

“When She Was Gone” (Blackstone Publishing) by Sara Foster: When a young nanny working for one of Perth’s wealthiest families disappears, a tense investigation unravels the secrets of a seemingly perfect family, forcing everyone to confront the lies they’ve told themselves and each other. Foster delivers a taut, emotionally resonant thriller that lingers. And as expected from Blackstone Publishing, the story itself is packaged beautifully with subtle and tactile cover art: Buy the hardcover of this one.

“Follow Me” (Thomas & Mercer) by Elizabeth Rose Quinn: An eerie digital breadcrumb trail leads a tech-savvy woman into a web of deception and danger. Quinn crafts a smart, suspenseful mystery that taps into our modern fears of surveillance and online identity. “Heathers” meets “The Stepford Wives” in this tale of twin sisters.

“The Book That Held Her Heart” (Ace) by Mark Lawrence: In this final chapter of The Library Trilogy, a mysterious book bridges love, loss and literary magic in a haunting story that defies time and tests the bond between Livira and Evar — one that has never been more taut. Lawrence blends fantasy and emotion in this lyrical, genre-bending tale.

“The Great Pyramids: Collected Stories” (Arcade Publishing) by Frederick Barthelme: This sharp, wry collection captures small-town oddities, human longing and ironic twists with Barthelme’s signature minimalist flair. A masterclass in short fiction that’s both grounded and subtly surreal.

“The Boomerang” (Thomas & Mercer) by Robert Bailey: Big Pharma is on trial as Eli James, chief of staff to the president, attempts to rescue his daughter from a cancer diagnosis while simultaneously stumbling upon a cover up that could affect millions of lives — and more importantly to the bad guys, billions of dollars. Bailey keeps the thrills high and the emotional stakes higher. He also lives with his family in Huntsville — and has been know to visit Cullman County now and then. Let him know what you think of his latest if you see him around town.

“A Thousand Natural Shocks” (Blackstone Publishing) by Omar Hussain: A reporter fleeing his past while investigating a serial killer becomes entangled in a cult that promises a pill to erase his memory. The story turns to a test of time as dark secrets about the cult and the serial killer surface in an attempt to reconcile everything he’s learned with his past — before his memories evaporate.

“My Friends” (Atria Books) by Fredrik Backman: Backman returns with a moving meditation on friendship, aging, the quiet heroism of everyday people and a famous painting picturing an isolated moment of time of three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier. Tender, funny and unmistakably human, this is Backman’s most eloquent and lyrical story to date about how lives intersect in unknowable and unpredictable ways. An engaging read from the author of “A Man Called Ove.”

“The Language of the Birds” (Ballantine) by K.A. Merson: Arizona is no average teenager and when she finds a cryptic ransom note, she sets out to solve the riddles — and save her mother. Unwittingly, she becomes entangled in a worldwide treasure hunt that involves a centuries-old secret her father took to his grave. A quirky, surprising story soars in an introspective mystery.

“The Eternal Warrior” (Blackstone Publishing) by Ari Marmell: An immortal fighter who defies even death — an Eternal Warrior — is caught in a conflict that spans centuries, grappling with his past sins and the future of humanity in an attempt to reclaim everything that has slipped from his personal history. Marmell delivers epic fantasy with grit, heart and unrelenting pace.

“Nightshade” (Little, Brown and Company) by Michael Connelly: Done with Bosch and Ballard, at least for now, Connelly’s new series starter centers on another one-name detective, Stilwell. Due to department politics, the Los Angeles County sheriff detective has been exiled to a low-level post on Catalina Island, where he promptly begins to ruffle local feathers as he unearths secrets the natives would rather keep to themselves. Hopefully Connelly’s flair for backstory and depth will surface in future offerings, but for now, our first meeting with Stilwell offers a familiar, fun summer read.

“Kaua’i Storm” (Thomas & Mercer) by Tori Eldridge: In the lush Hawaiian landscape, a repatriated national park ranger uncovers a mystery surrounding the disappearance of her two cousins. Unfortunately for her, it’s a mystery and investigation that neither the family, the locals nor the police truly want exposed. Eldridge blends action and cultural depth in a uniquely tropical thriller.

“Rockets’ Red Glare” (Blackstone Publishing) by William Webster and Dick Lochte: A high-octane political thriller unfolds against the backdrop of a potentially explosive Fourth of July. Lochte’s sharp storytelling and fast pacing make for a perfect July 4 holiday page-turner. The book is the first in a series with Tribal Police Deputy Sage Mendiluze. Reacher and Pickett fans will find common ground here.

“Written on the Dark” (Ace) by Guy Gavriel Kay: Kay returns with an evocative, elegant historical fantasy set in a world where poetry, memory and fate collide. Centering on a tavern poet who must cater to both rogues and courtiers, Thierry Villar must also navigate churning political waters in a game of assassins and armies. Richly imagined and beautifully told storytelling.

“A Dead Draw” (Thomas & Mercer) by Robert Dugoni: In book 11 of the Tracy Crosswhite series, a pair of cold cases stir ties to the murder of Tracy’s sister in the form of suspect Erik Schmidt. When Schmidt is freed due to an investigative error, the lives of her friends and family are under direct threat. Schmidt is a master of taunt and tease as he draws Tracy deeper into his dark world. Wonderful character building in this story and the sensitive drawing of Lydia, a young woman on the spectrum whose mannerisms echo those of Tracy’s murdered sister, is exceptionally done. One of Dugoni’s best works, the author brings in just enough backstory to both start the series here, and reward long-time readers with vintage Crosswhite.

“The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club” (Ballantine Books) by Martha Hall Kelly: In a story told through dual timelines, Kelly’s narrative is a personal ode to her mother’s heritage. Involving a contemporary mystery, set at Martha’s Vineyard, whose only answers will come from the past, the story taps a wartime romance set in 1942 — and a beach read written for today. Kelly is touring extensively for this book through the end of July. Meet up with her at marthahallkelly.com/events/.

“The Turn” (Blackstone Publishing) by Christopher Ransom: An heirloom, of sorts, following his father’s death sends Casey Sweet into his dad’s past — and a current country club where Casey might just have met the long-lost son he never knew he had. Written in the tradition of “Caddyshack,” Ransom’s new novel is an engaging summer break.

“The Afterlife Project” (Podium Publishing) by Tim Weed: Humanity is facing extinction. A group of scientists with the capability to send a test subject 10,000 years into the future. One of the last women on Earth capable of getting pregnant. All of this portends that the survival of humankind is at stake in a futuristic setting evoking the ills of today.

“It Takes a Psychic” (Berkley) by Jayne Ann Krentz writing as Jayne Castle: A psychic investigator — actually, a para-archeologist — with a flair for romance and the paranormal dives into a case filled with danger and sizzling chemistry. Castle delivers her signature mix of mystery charm in a story centering on a long-dead cult leader and illicit paranormal experiments. “It Takes a Psychic” is No. 18 in Castle’s A Harmony Novel series.

“The Ghostwriter” (Sourcebooks Landmark) by Julie Clark: An author’s past returns to haunt her in the form of a ghostwriting project undertaken for her estranged father. When the project turns out to be just another one of dad’s lies, writer Olivia Dumont is forced to confront her relationship with her father … and a web of family secrets.

“Stop All the Clocks” (Arcade) by Noah Kumin: Kumin’s debut is a meditative, poetic novel about time, grief and the modern-life moments that define us … in ones and zeroes. The death of a colleague and the collapse of her AI company send Mona Veigh’s life in directions not determined by any algorithm.

“Plays Well with Others” (Blackstone Publishing) by Lauren Myracle: A bout of social media betrayal forces Jake Nolan from her job, house and husband and into a receptive bungalow on Sweetwater Lane. There, she befriends those just like herself — people itching to act on entrenched thoughts of retaliation.

“Her First Mistake” (Montlake) by Kendra Elliot: Elliot has written nearly two dozen thrillers set in her home state of Oregon and this latest offering features a minor character from the Columbia River novels: Here, Deschutes County sheriff’s detective Noelle Marshall gets her own origin story. A cold case murder mystery, this is the tale that explains what happened to Marshall to make her the detective she is today, or at least what she becomes in later storylines. A fulfilling storyline delivers much more than backstory in a captivating summer read.

“Jill Is Not Happy” (Scarlet) by Kaira Rouda: In this darkly comic tale, Jill and Jack live an enviable life in South California and, as recent empty-nesters, an unbearable marriage. A road trip “to reconnect” is really a cat-and-mouse game unknown to each other as they unwittingly match their cunning to pull one in … and push the other over, the more-than-metaphorical ledge.

“The Farm House” (Poisoned Pen Press) by Chelsea Conradt: Looking for a fresh start after her mother dies, Emily Hauk and her husband depart for a farm in rural Nebraska. Learning nothing from centuries of thrillers (“The Amityville Horror,” anyone?), they should have asked why the asking price was so low. Unknown to them, everyone who has ever lived on this farm has died. The lure of the soil is compelling, though, as Emily digs into the mystery enveloping her new home.

Reach book reviewer Tom Mayer at tmayer@rn-t.com or tmayer132435@gmail.com.

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Beautifully written in classic Backman style. I read this book slow so I could savor and mark my favorite lines. That being said, it's not my favorite Backman book, because it was a bit more character driven than I prefer. Overall though, you can't go wrong with Backman!

"He's never been able to explain that all his paintings are an attempt to show how beautiful he wishes he actually was. He's dreamed of being able to say: 'Being human is to grieve, constantly.' Because what he really wants to know is: 'How the hell do all the rest of you cope?'"

"What I hate most isn't that people die. What I hate most is that they're dead. That I'm alive, without them."

When Louisa inherits a mysterious painting featuring three small figures on a distant pier, she becomes determined to uncover their story. Her search takes her back to a summer decades earlier, when four troubled teens found solace, friendship, and purpose on that very pier.

My thoughts: I loved this one by Backman so much. It felt different than some of his other books but I'm not sure I know how to describe it. He always hits the nail on the head with a mix of depth and humor while slowly revealing more of the story. He captured so well the mind of a teenager.
This did feel a bit long to me at times but generally I was interested and captivated by the story.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

This is one of those that will make me wish that I could erase a book from my memory so I could read it again for the first time. I'm glad I waited to pick it up until I was in a place to truly enjoy it. Found family will mess me up every time.

very character driven but like always, this author delivers a story that is worth it. lots of valuable quotes about life and parenting.

I am a huge fan of Fredrik Backman and have read all his books (except his one non-fiction) and enjoyed them all. My Friends was a bit different from the others, but I still enjoyed it. The story opens with Louisa, an artist, visiting a pre-auction showing of art. She wants to see one of the most famous paintings in the world, one that she has been carrying a postcard picture of for years. She gets herself in trouble and has to run from security, where she meets "The Artist". Thinking he is a homeless man, she shares her story with him, not expecting this meeting will change her life. The painting is thought to be of the sea by most people, but Louisa sees the three bodies on the pier looking out over that sea. The rest of the story is about those three individuals: Joar, Ali and Ted, and the artist. While learning about them, we also learn Louisa's story about herself and her friend Fish. This is a story of friendship and how it shapes out lives.

This is a powerful story about friendship. The characters all have situations in their lives that they are dealing with and the support they receive from their friends. Joar is a big guy, the protector for his friends and those picked on. Ted is small and bookish, often a target of others, Ali's family is always on the move and every time she finally makes friends, they are on the move. She is very defensive and uses anger and teasing to show how she feels about someone. The Artist has a natural talent, but a father who is abusive. He is reticent to show his talent and only his friends encourage and support him. Besides this, I will tell you no more about the story. As we learn about these characters, my heart broke many times. Fredrik Backman creates characters that we recognize from those we know or who we've known in the past. Having been an educator for over 30 years, I saw these kids as ones I knew and worked with. I became invested in their stories as well as Louisa's. The story is beautifully written and although the beginning was a bit slow to start, I was pulled in and stayed up late in the night finishing this one. My Friends is real, emotional, full of vulnerable characters and a story about life and the importance of friendship in the various times of those lives. I highly recommend this one.

Another blockbuster by a great author!

The compelling story of young friendships of a group of outsiders. No judgement, no motives - just the truest bond of love and affection. A group of cast offs - finds each other and relies on each other through the toughest years - their teens.

Not always pretty - but always real.

Another hit!!! Fredrick Backman writes about the human experience so so beautifully, I will never get enough!

"My Friends" tells the story of four friends and the painting that connects them twenty-five years later.

Fredrik Backman's prose has a gentle flow, full of humor and sharp wit. His work delves into the complexities of friendships and growing up with insight. Backman's prose has a lyrical quality to it. He describes characters, settings, and emotions with lovely resonance and authenticity. The thought-provoking nature of his writing gives the reader a lot to reflect on.

Backman has a gift for connecting his readers with his characters. This novel tugs at the heartstrings, giving readers opportunities to laugh, cry, and celebrate along with the characters. He balances themes of grief with messages of hope. He evokes and explores a spectrum of emotions with authenticity.

Empathy is at the heart of the novel, as Backman finds unique ways to describe his characters in ways that allow his audience to connect with them universally.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Backman never disappoints. As usual, his writing grips me from page 1, and i am always enamored by his writing and character development. Hope he keeps writing!

Once in a blue moon, you read a book that stops and starts your heart over and over a million times during the course of reading the book. My Friends by Fredrik Bachman is one of these books. The story of four friends who grew up to become the physical manifestation of redemption, hope, and love. I hesitate to give more of a description of the book than this because, in many ways, it is doing the book an injustice to try to simplify the author’s words into any kind of summary. Even the simple title can be the only possible title because anything more would be inauthentic. The prose is beautifully written so much so that I reread countless sections just to soak up the words again. This is a book for anyone who has ever felt. It contains tragedy, buoyancy, magic, and insights. Read this book. Absorb it into your very being and consider it a blessing that it was written. Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this opportunity to read My Friends. .

AMAZING! "My Friends" by Fredrik Backman is a profound, deep, interesting, magnificently written novel. Layered with much depth of characters, history, childhood friendship and trauma, magic of art, and loyalty. Was truly a masterpiece. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

This unfortunately took me waaaaay too long to finish.
It's clear that Backman can write. There are points where I felt emotional and was touched. However, I did find the writing a little too verbose, and I felt detached from the characters. There's a quirkiness to the writing that didn't make the story flow well for me, so when I would put the book down, I didn't have the urge to pick it back up. That being said, I can see I'm the minority, as the reviews rave for this book, which I can see as objectively good. Overall, it was good, but not my cup of tea.
Thank you so much to Atria for the advanced e-copy!

Really lovely story if they friendship and overcoming the worst childhoods the world has to offer. Sad but kind and caring

Fredrik Backman’s My Friends is ostensibly about a painting—its subjects, its origin, and the teenager who becomes its unlikely caretaker. But that’s just the frame. At its core, this novel is about kinship. It’s about the invisible threads that link people with shared histories, shared pain, and the kind of deep understanding that comes not from blood but from enduring life alongside one another.

I opened this book expecting to be emotionally moved, as Backman has done to me many times before. But this time, he didn’t wait for the ending to break my heart—he shattered it from the very first chapter. Louisa, an eighteen-year-old runaway and gifted artist, is introduced in a moment of fear and vulnerability. A misunderstanding at an art auction leads to a chance encounter with a man who recognizes her pain, her potential, and her need to be seen. That brief but powerful moment becomes a pivot in Louisa’s life and sets the novel’s journey into motion.

What follows is a story within a story. One of the man’s old friends—someone connected to the painting and the people in it—finds Louisa and begins recounting his own childhood and the origins of the painting. These recollections are full of humor, heartache, and the kind of youthful mischief that can only occur among kids who need each other more than they dare to admit. It’s a story about art, yes—but more than that, it’s about how love and loyalty can transform pain into beauty, and how friendships can become family when nothing else is safe.

Louisa's own story unfolds alongside these recollections, and the parallels are subtle but powerful. She listens, shares, and begins to see herself as part of a broader, older story—one that transcends time, trauma, and even the canvas.

This novel is filled with observations about life that are at once simple and searing. It is a book that demands to be reread, not just for the story, but for the lines that catch in your chest and refuse to leave. Though I received a digital copy from the publisher, I’ll be purchasing a physical copy just to mark it up, tab the pages, and press it into the hands of anyone willing to listen to me talk about it.

My Friends is a book about grief and healing. About how friendships save us. About the way we carry each other forward, even when we’re no longer here. It is, quite simply, a book I will cherish.

Reading My Friends by Fredrik Backman felt like having a long, honest conversation with someone who truly understands the quiet struggles of being human. Backman has a rare gift for writing about ordinary people in extraordinary emotional depth, and this book is no exception. Personally, I found myself completely absorbed—laughing in one moment and unexpectedly tearing up the next.

What stood out most to me was how Backman captures the unspoken pain and quiet joys of friendship, especially the kind that isn’t loud or dramatic but quietly life-saving. His characters aren’t perfect, and that’s exactly what makes them unforgettable.

If you’ve ever felt like an outsider, or wrestled with how to show up for someone you care about, My Friends will speak to you. It's one of those books I’ll recommend to others not just because it's beautifully written, but because it made me feel more human.

Every time I start a Fredrik Backman book, I kick myself for not having already devoured every last piece of his backlist. He has a beautiful, almost magical way of putting into words the experience of life: its rawness, its absurdity, its staggering beauty. My Friends is no exception. It’s a masterclass in emotional storytelling that reminds me, in equal parts, of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin and Stand By Me by Stephen King. Stories drenched in coming-of-age nostalgia, soaked in the bittersweet ache of growing up and growing apart.

At its core, My Friends is about love. Not romantic love, but the quieter, stronger kind: friendship. The dysfunctional, self-sacrificing kind. The kind that looks like found families, unlikely bonds, and people who don’t always say what they feel but are always there. This is a book full of friends who know their place in the world, who don’t strive to take the spotlight but who anchor the people they care about.

The dual timelines, spread across a cast of diverse characters, are handled with remarkable clarity. In a lesser writer’s hands, the story could easily have felt fragmented. But here, the shifts in time and perspective are seamless. Each layer adds depth to the whole. It’s ambitious and sprawling but never messy. Just deeply, deeply human.

Backman’s signature ability to nail an observation you’ve had but never quite articulated is on full display. Some of his lines are so succinct they feel like they were written just for you. I found myself slowing my audiobook speed way down, something I never do, just to savor the rhythm and weight of the prose. This book is quotable in the truest sense. One line in particular knocked the wind out of me:

“He didn’t want to prove to the world how good the artist was; he wanted to prove it to the artist himself.”

That line mirrors a sentiment from Richard Bach’s There’s No Such Place As Far Away—the idea that the value of a life doesn’t lie in applause but in connection. In recognition. And My Friends takes that one step further, offering a quiet but potent critique of the “art world.” It questions who gets to decide what art is worth while honoring the artists who make it anyway, for themselves, for someone they love, for permanence. For a kind of immortality.

That’s one of the most moving parts of this novel: its exploration of why we create. It doesn’t romanticize art-making. It humanizes it. Being "one of us," as the book puts it, means understanding that art isn’t about galleries or gatekeepers. It’s about staying alive through what we leave behind. The book asks, gently but insistently, what does it mean to truly live? What happens when we die? And what, if anything, survives?

The friendships here are based on contrast, opposites who still, somehow, understand each other better than anyone else could. There’s warmth and banter that feels completely natural, the kind that makes your cheeks hurt from smiling. Mine did, by the final three hours, which I listened to all in one stretch, heart racing, laughter caught in my throat.

“The sound of the doors being unlocked inside the boy then should have been heard around the world, the ground should have shaken, that's how much everything changed inside him.”

Fredrik Backman doesn’t just write stories. He writes about emotional architecture. He builds a world, gives you keys, and lets you move in. And when you leave, you’re not quite the same person who opened the first page.

Backman has always asked big questions with simple words, but this one ends with a question that lingers, like a final note in a symphony:

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”